Rock Climbing/Training

There are many different training regimes instituted by climbers. As with all sports, training should chosen with respect to the climber's goals and experience level. Training regimes may include a mixture of bouldering, caving, finger and body weight exercises, versa-climber training, route climbing, and up/down climbing.

Bouldering usually consists of climbing at a low height without supports and moving laterally, and vertically along the climbing surface. Bouldering routes can be very useful to practice technique as it's easy to start at difficult parts and practice them specifically.

Caving adds an extra dimension of climbing beneath overhanging surfaces, and hanging from the roof.

Body weight exercises or calisthenics that focus on the back,leg, and finger muscles should be a focus for any climber. Leg exercises are essential as climbing is more like crawling than doing repeated chin-ups and a lot of technique is aimed at maximising the use of all limbs, balancing weight between hand- and foot holds.

A Versa climber is cardiovascular machine, sometimes used to train upper body and lower body endurance.

Up/Down climbing is used to also train endurance, and involves climbing up to a location and then climbing back down.